Monica Maughan

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Monica Maughan is an Australian actor with notable and well-known roles in film, theatre and television.

She launched her professional career at the Union Repertory Theatre Company (URTC) at Melbourne University playing Capulat in Jean Anouilh's romantic comedy Ring Round the Moon in 1957. Her first leading role came that same year in Beauty and the Beast. URTC, Australia's first professional theatre company, became the Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC)[1] in 1968. Monica Maughan has appeared in more plays for that flagship company than any other actor.

She has worked for every major theatre company in Australia including Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard and Alan Bennett's Habeas Corpus for the Queensland Theatre Company in 1978 and the role of Aggie in A Hard God produced by the State Theatre Company of South Australia in 1981. Perhaps Maughan's best-known stage role was as Miss Prism in the MTC's "The Importance of Being Earnest". The production, co-starring Geoffrey Rush, was so popular that it toured Australia between 1988 and 1992, and was televised by the ABC. In 2003 she starred in Inheritance by Hannie Rayson. Maughan has also directed plays for the MTC.

Early television roles in Crawford's dramas led to ongoing television parts that made Maughan a recognisable face around Australia, including prim secretary Jean Ford in the first year of The Box (1974-75) and downtrodden prisoner Pat O'Connell for five months in women's-prison drama Prisoner in 1979.

Film roles include Strange Bedfellows (2004), Crackerjack (2002) and Road to Nhill (1997), plus a number of films by Dutch-Australian director Paul Cox.

Monica Maughan recently extended her repertoire to include non-dancing roles with the Australian Ballet, including Effie's mother in La Sylphide and Doreen's mother in The Sentimental Bloke.